The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) revealed that AG Communications has been hit with a £237,600 fine for its failure to stick to the country’s anti-money laundering (AML) laws.
Apart from the monetary penalty, the operator, which currently trades as Aspire Global and operates 66 online gambling platforms in the UK, is to also receive an official warning from the country’s gambling regulatory body. In addition, it will have some new conditions added to its operating licence.
As reported by the UKGC, the operator breached the anti-money laundering rules by being unable to make sure that the appropriate due diligence checks were carried out on six third-party businesses Aspire Global had entered into white-label partnership agreements with. This was exactly why some extra licence conditions were added to the company’s operating permit, as it needs to make sure that proper and thorough due diligence checks are held when necessary.
So-called white-label deals are partnerships involving the use of third-party branding by a licensed company running a gambling business.
The UK Gambling Commission announced that AG Communications was found to have breached Paragraphs 1 and 2 of its licence condition 12.1.1 regarding the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Aspire Global Also Faces Additional Licence Conditions and Regulatory Warning
In line with its Licensing, compliance and enforcement policy statement, as well as the Indicative sanctions guidance and the Statement of principles for determining financial penalties, the UK gambling watchdog determined that, under the provisions of section 121(1) of the Gambling Act 2005 AG Communications, trading as Aspire Global, will have to pay a financial penalty of £237,600.
As mentioned above, the gambling company also received a regulatory warning under the provisions of section 117(1)(a) of the Act.
AG Communications faced additional conditions that have been attached to its operating licence under the provisions of the UK 2005 Gambling Act’s section 117(1)(b) that requires the licensee to carry out risk-based due diligence on the third parties it has any business relationship with. Furthermore, the UKGC has issued conduct advice regarding a number of other issues that had been identified during its review of Aspire Global’s operations.
The last few months have seen the UK Gambling Commission become very proactive in its regulatory job, with a number of penalties and monetary fines issued by the watchdog. At the beginning of the month, it suspended the operating permit of LEBOM Limited for the company’s failure to integrate the GAMSTOP scheme into its services. The licence was restored less than a week later.
On the other hand, a few gambling operators were forced to pay massive penalties for similar anti-money laundering failures as the ones found in AG Communications’ business. NSUS Limited faced a £672,829 fine in October, and only a few days later, at the end of September, Betfred’s owner was forced to pay a £2.87-million regulatory fine for AML and social responsibility failures. Similar violations cost Spreadex Limited a £1.36-million fine in August.
- Author
Olivia Cole
